For example, there is a known remote maintenance technique for diagnosing and understanding the operational status of an apparatus in a remote location and for collecting data, such as an operational history, from the apparatus. A user apparatus that performs a remote operation is connected to the apparatus in the remote location via the network, such as the Internet. A remote command input by the user apparatus is transmitted via the network to the apparatus in the remote location. The apparatus executes a predetermined maintenance process according to the received remote command and transmits the maintenance process results to the user apparatus.